Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight

DESCRIPTION: The singer calls on his sweetheart to "Meet me tonight in the moonlight." He bids her come alone and hear his sad story. He is being sent to sea, and they must part. He expresses his hope to return in metaphors of a fine ship, angels' wings, etc.AUTHOR: Joseph Augustus WadeEARLIEST DATE: 1924KEYWORDS: separation loveFOUND IN: US(So)REFERENCES (5 citations):Randolph 746, "Meet Me Tonight" (3 texts plus a gragment, 1 tune, although the "C" text is probably "The Prisoner's Song (I)") Randolph/Cohen, pp. 489-491, "Meet Me Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 746A) BrownIII 350, "The Prisoner's Song" (7 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 1 more; "A"-"C," plus probably the "D" excerpt, are "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; "E" and "G," plus perhaps the "H" fragment, are "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "J" and "K" are "Sweet Lulur") Sandburg, pp. 216-217, "Moonlight" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune) Belden, p. 494, "Beautiful Light o'er the Sea" (1 text, possibly mixed with something else) Roud #767RECORDINGS: Burnett & Rutherford, "Meet Me in the Moonlight" (Supertone 9443, 1929) Carter Family, "Meet Me by Moonlight Alone" (Victor 23731, 1928) (Perfect 7-01-54/7-05-55, both 1937) Bradley Kincaid, "I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me" (Vocalion 02686, 1934)CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)" cf. "I'm Dying for Someone to Love Me" (lyrics)ALTERNATE TITLES: I Wish I Had Someone to Love MeNotes: This song later became merged with a version of "Botany Bay/Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries" to produce "The Prisoner's Song." See notes on that piece also, as they often cannot be distinguished. It doesn't help that that song was built out of traditional materials by Vernon Dalhart (or someone), and the Carter Family patched up a version also. Belden's "Beautiful Light o'er the Sea" is a curiosity; it doesn't really look like this song -- but two of its three verses go with this song, and the whole theme is very similar. Since I haven't met the "other half" that gave it its title (indeed, it sounds more like a hymn than anything else), it seemed proper to file it here so people will realize that the "half and half" song exists. - RBWFile: R746

The verse that is a part of the 'prisoner' songs belongs to an English song that became popular in America near the beginning of the 19th c, printed in sheet music and arranged in America for duet in 1812. "Meet Me By Moonlight" a song for lovers meeting by moonlight, has persisted as a floater in other songs. The original song, by J. Augustine Wade, London, undated in Levy, was arranged for duet in an 1812 copy printed in Philadelphia and composed by Mrs. Seguin and Mr. Shrival.

MEET ME BY MOONLIGHT (Mr. J.Augustine Wade)

Meet me by moonlight alone And then I will tell you a tale. Must be told by the moonlight alone In the grove at the end of the vale. You must promise to come, for I said I would show the night flowers their Queen Nay turn not away that sweet head- 'Tis the loveliest ever was seen.

Oh! meet me by moonlight alone Meet me by moonlight alone.

Daylight may do for the gay- The thoughtless, the heartless, the free- But there's something about the moon's ray That is sweeter to you and to me- Oh! remember, be sure to be there, For tho' dearly a moonlight I prize, I care not for all in the air, If I want the sweet light of your eyes.

So meet me by moonlight alone, Met me by moonlight alone.

Not in the original song, but added to the duet- Yes, I'll meet thee, I'll meet thee by moonlight alone.

Odd that the author, J. A. Wade, is mentioned in the Ballad Index, but the date given is that of the version collected by Randolph in 1924. Wade's middle name is Augustine, not Augustus. The music was also published by Chappell in London (1810?). Wade was one of the arrangers for "National English Airs," issued by Chappell in 1838-9, a book with 245 tunes. Wade also did a translation of the German, "The Fisherman's Daughter," which I believe entered 'folk' in England. Some material in Folktrax.

The Ballad Index dating system seems a bit odd until you realize that by "Earliest Date," they mean the date of the earliest source that has been covered by the index. It is NOT the publishing date of the song - it's the publication date of the earliest source of the song that is included in the Index.-Joe Offer-

I have a large ship on the ocean, All mounted in silver an' gold, An' before that my girl shall suffer, That ship shall be anchored an' sold.

If I had the wings of an angel, If I had the wings of a dove, I'd fly to the arms of my darlin', An' there I would lay down an' die.

Sung by Mrs. Carrie Baber, Pineville, MO, Dec. 1924. "Mrs. Baber first heard the song about 1889. Vance Randolph, "Ozark Folksongs, vol. 4, 746A, with music. This seems to be a composite of three or even four songs.

From the manuscripts of Obadiah Johnson of Crossnore, Avery county, NC. In this there is no mention or thought of a prison (as in "Prisoner's Song"), yet it is clearly a form of the same song as the four texts preceding.

Obtained from Miss Jewell Robbins (later Mrs. C. P. Perdue) of Pekin, Montgomery County, North Carolina, in 1921. The jail and the moonlight have vanished from this version, yet it is clearly a form of the same song as Dalhart's "Prisoner's Song."

Just a slight sidetrack... A few years back I was half-watching the television. They were showing and old silent Buster Keaton film (he hasn't made any new ones for ages...). In one of the scenes, he was in a gaol cell and on the cell wall was a sheet of paper with the Prisoner's Song printed on it. It was visible for long enough to recognise the song. At the time, I registered the scene, but have in the intervening period forgotten what the film title was. I just wonder if there is a Keaton buff out there who can identify which film the scene appeared in? Quack! GtD.

Another variant on the song appears on the Sally Rogers album "Circle of the Sun" (1982). Sally says she learned "I wish I had someone to love me" from Lisa Null. The sleeve insert notes say :-

I WISH I HAD SOMEONE TO LOVE ME

Apparently before this song went through the folk process, it was one of Vernon Dahlhart's country hits of the late thirties. It went under the title "The Prisoner's Song" and a snatch of it is used at the end of the Humphrey Bogart movie, Deadend. I learned this version of it from Lisa Null who heard the great Irish singer, Joe Heaney, perform it. Amazing what a few thousand miles of ocean will do to a song.

CHORUS: I wish I had someone to love me, Someone to call me his own, Someone to sleep with me nightly, I'm weary of sleeping alone.

Meet me tonight in the moonlight, Meet me tonight all alone, I have a sad story to tell you I'm telling it under the moon.

Tonight is our last night together, Nearest and dearest must part, The love that has bound us together Is shredded and torn apart.

I wish I had ships on the ocean Bid them with silver and gold Follow the ship that he sails in A lad of nineteen years old.

I wish I had wings of a swallow, Fly out over the sea Fly to the arms of my true love And bring him home safely to me.

*********************

Reading the sleeve notes, I am not sure whether Sally is saying that Lisa Null learned the version from the singing of Joe Heaney, or that she had also heard the Irish singer performing a song she knew by other means.

Joe - You list words for "I HAVE A SHIP ON THE OCEAN (Brown #350G)"

The chorus is related to "The storms are on the ocean" (sung by the Carter Family) which is appears to consist of a number of common floating verses tied to the following chorus:-

cho: The storms are on the ocean The heavens may cease to be. The world may lose its motion, love If I prove false to thee.

I knew this from our earliest old breakable recordings played on a wind-up Victrola. It began:

O I'm thinking tonight of my Blue--eyes Who is sailing far over the sea, O I'm thinking tonight of you only And I wonder if you ever think of me

O I wish I had someone to love me, Some one that would call me their own. O I wish I had someone to live for, For I'm tired of living alone.

O meet me tonight in the moonlight Just out in the moonlight alone For I have a sad story to tell you, Must be told in the moonlight alone.

I'll be carried to the new jail tomorrow, Leaving my poor darling alone With those cold prison bars all around me And my head on a pillar of stone. (referrs to a pillow, I think)

O if I had the wings of an angel Over these prison walls I would fly, I would fly to the arms of my darling And there I'd be willing to die.

The first verse was thrown in every two verses or so, as a kind of chorus. I remember wondering, as a little girl, how "Blue Eyes could meet him in the moonlight when she was sailing far over the sea, and then deciding that, since he'd lost that first sweetheart, he was in the next verses trying to get another!

The notes at the bottom of the Mudcat lyrics say that the song is based on "The Prisoner's Song". This is a VERY old Irish ballad, dating back at least two centuries, while Vernon Dalhart's version is only from the 1930's, and was the flip side of the first million-selling single record, "Old Number 97".

"The Prisoner's Song" is often said to be a descendant of "Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries," found on broadsides dating back to c. 1780 at the Bodleian (printed in England). A copy from c. 1828, called "Justices and Old Bailey," is the same, but easier to read. Last two verses:

How hard is the place of confinement, That keeps me from my heart's delight, Cold chains and cold irons surround me, And a plank is my pillow at night.

How often I wish that the eagle Would lend me her wings I would fly, Then I'd fly to the arms of my Polly, And in her soft bosom I'd lie.

Harding B17(153a), T. Birt printer, London, c. 1828-1829. The song is included in "Sam Henry's Songs of the People," from an Irish source, as "The Gaol Song," but it is obviously very late.

O you told me once, dear that you loved me That nothing could cause us to part, But a link in the chain has been broken Leaving me with a sad, broken heart.

Sinsull- it must have been Vernon Delhart. If not, someone who learned it from him or his recording. The 1930s wwould be about the right time, for that old talkin-machine we had....and the fact that I still sing, "The Wreck of the Old Number Nine," sort of pins down the singer on the record to be Dalhart. I just never thought about who wrote it!

The Buster Keaton film is Steam Boat Jr., a 1928 release. He's brought his father who's in jail a loaf of bread that he's hidden tools in and as he's miming to him what's in the loaf he sees the lyrics pinned to the wall and mimes a few lines too. It's about 45 minutes into the film. Love Keaton :)

Nice to have a loose end finally tied up. From a list of Keaton titles and my vague recollection of it being set around a river, I suspected that must have been the film, but could not find any info online that gave me enough clues to specifically place the scene in that film. I think it is one of those "folk related" snippets of info worth being on record via Mudcat. Thanks. Quack! Geoff.

There is a watchable and downloadable copy at The Internet Archive - Steamboat Bill Jr.. Guest Nahrum is gives us the position for the prison scene - about 45 minutes into the film. The words of the Prisoner's Song are on the wall and you can actually see Keaton singing lines from the song.

Are there any other songs where you could claim "I learned it from a silent movie"?

Meet Me By Moonlight, the song by J. Augustine Wade, was reproduced with sheet music in "Fireside Gems," published in 1863. A copy is in American Memory, Lib. Congress. Thirty-odd songs are listed in this compilation, called "Favorite Songs from the Best Authors."